Online Shopping Adventure

Last week my friend Sarah shared this blog entry with me on Google Reader. (Could I add any more links into that sentence? Probably if it's a challenge!)

$0.99 shoe sale? Are you kidding me? Did I just die and go to heaven? I always knew there would be a time in my life where I could shop freely and not have to worry about cost or functionality…but did it really have to happen in my post life? Why am I complaining? Good question…there is no need.

Anyway, Sarah informed me that they had really limited sizes left, which figured, but once I found out she was an average size 7 my hopes got higher!! Is if finally paying off to have HUGE feet? Will I now be able to tease my friends about their average sized feet? Redemption day is here!

My fingers could not move fast enough to click on that site! Sarah was right though…even for size 9's there still wasn't a lot to choose from, but I did find one semi cute pair.


I started to check out and the site says "ERROR you must spend a minimum of $10." What the crap? Now I see how this scam is working…but do you think I closed that browser window? Heck no! I went on to find me another pair. I mean I had to spend more money to get the cheep shoes, right?

So I find these really cute brown ballet style shoes:

I've got to buy as many of that style as possible before they go out of style since they are so comfortable. Then I will try to wear them as long as possible until I start getting looks from people. You know the look…it's the look I give to people I see wearing an acid washed jean jacket, or mom jeans, or a shirt with the armpit holes cut out of it. (Travis Barker has adopted this as his style, and it is SO BAD! I mean do his pits sweat that bad? Doesn't he know what Botox can do for excessive sweating?)

In case you forgot...Kip fell victim to this horrid fashion trend as well. I know you can't really see it very well in that photo, but this is the scene where you see WAY more of his body than necessary.

Where was I? Oh right…so I was about to place the order and I started to have some doubt…I mean did I really want to give this shoe site the satisfaction of making money off of another sucker on the Internet? Decisions, decisions. Luckily I had my handy human 8 ball, (AKA Sarah), near by. She asked me "would you pay $30 just for the cute ballet shoes?" I said 'yes' and she said 'well quit acting like wiener and buy them!' So I did. In the checkout process, I didn't have to enter in my email address = no invoice, and I paid through Paypal. Kind of odd, but I've done that before.

So a few days later the shoes arrived, in this awesome packaging!
Does this imply a reputable shoe company or what? I have never received anything purchased online delivered to me like this. So I sighed…then decided to check out my new treasures. The $1 pair looked good and cute, and I think I can wear them for maybe 3 hours before they start to hurt my feet. Score!

I take the second pair out and for some reason it won't fit on my foot!!! I was so confused! I kept trying until I realized it was a size 5.5!!!!!!! I was so mad! How could they have shipped me a 9 and a 5.5! I totally felt like they were just dumping off a pair on me that they wanted to get rid of. I mean the ballet shoes looked so cute in person and had nice soft edges, for painless fashion! How could they be the wrong size?

So I check the boxes to see where my invoice/return slip is, and I can't seem to find it. That is odd, don't you think? Plan B - check their website for return/exchange info. I log on and cannot find ANY information on returns, or their return policy. Oh crap! This really is the scam of all scams! Can you imagine? Setting up an online store and then leaving the customers NO WAY of contacting you? I mean that is brilliant, and I wish I would have thought about that before them!

So I check my email and see that I did get a notice from Paypal when I made my payment. There was an email address in the email, so I used that to email the 'so-called' shoe store. However, I didn't have any info from the order…only the Paypal receipt number, and the package tracking number.

I get an automated reply that gives me a phone number for help. Perfect! I was totally starting to get sweaty pits…maybe I should have bought an elongated arm pit hole shirt from them.

The next day I call them during their business hours, and it's busy. Hmmmm that is odd. So I call again…and again…and again. It was busy EVERY TIME! They sure aren't worried about receiving the Best Online Customer Support of the Year Award, now are they?

So the next day I complain to my human 8 ball and she was just as appalled as I was about this scam! Right after I complained to her about how the line was always busy I decide to try to call it again, and it rang! I was so excited! So I chat with this friendly fellow who told me that I did in fact order a 5.5…whatever dude. I still don't believe it. He gave me all of the necessary return info and that was that!

I felt really good after the phone call, but I just checked their website a few minutes ago and they no long have the brown flats in a size 9! I guess I can only hope that they set the last pair they had aside for me when I called. I mean that sounds totally practical doesn't?